US: Huntsman’s polyurethane revenue rose by 16% year-on-year to US$5.09bn in 2018 from US$4.40bn in 2017. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 11% to US$946m from US$850m. Overall, across all business segments, the company’s sales and earnings rose.

The chemicals producer said that its polyurethane segment had lost revenue in the last quarter of 2018 due to lower methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) prices. MDI sales volumes increased due to the start-up of a new Chinese MDI unit in 2018 and the acquisition of Demilec, a North American polyurethane spray foam company, in April 2018.

“2018 was another successful year for Huntsman as we reported record earnings and consistent robust free cash flow. We continued to expand in our downstream and differentiated businesses both through internal investments and bolt-on acquisitions,” said Peter R Huntsman, chairman, present and chief executive officer (CEO).

Denmark: Rockwool’s external net sales for its insulation business rose by 16% year-on-year to Euro2.07bn in 2018 from Euro1.78bn in 2017. Its earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) grew by 45% to Euro266m from Euro184m. It attributed the sale increase to the insulation market in Europe and North America. Overall the group’s sales, including its systems business, grew by 12.5% to Euro2.67bn from Euro2.337bn.

“We achieved a great deal in 2018. Our company is financially solid, expanding operations to meet customer demand, and benefiting from strong brand awareness and reputation. Sales growth and profitability were strong, with the EBIT margin the second highest in the group’s recent history, notwithstanding being affected by increasing input costs. For 2019, we expect good profitability, though with a lower top-line growth than 2018,” said Group chief executive officer (CEO) Jens Birgersson.

Australia: Kingspan Insulation is preparing to discontinue its Kooltherm K10 FM Soffit Board rigid insulation product ahead of changes to the National Construction Code (NCC) set to be enforced on 1 May 2019. The standard introduced in 2016, AS 5637, requires foil faced internal lining materials to be installed on both walls and ceiling when undertaking the full-scale room fire test ISO 9705.

To prepare for the change Kingspan will promote its Kooltherm K10 FM G2 Soffit Board product. It features a thicker foil lining and has already undergone the ISO 9705 test, achieving a Group 2 rating. The product has been supplied to the New Zealand market and it will now be launched in Australia.

“Kingspan Insulation have been preparing for this transition for some time. We are confident in our ability to supply a product that will not only adhere to the new NCC standard but will also provide the same great thermal performance that our customers have come to expect from us,” said Kingspan Insulation’s Sales Director, Craig Burr.

UK: Knauf Insulation has appointed Neil Hargreaves as its new managing director for the Northern Europe region. He will be responsible for strengthening the company’s position in the mineral wool insulation industry. Hargreaves was previously the finance director of the company. He succeeds John Sinfield, who is leaving to pursue another opportunity outside the company.

Italy: Gamma Meccanica has acquired mineral wool pipe section production technology from Germany’s MPN Maschinenbau. As part of the purchase, Mark Desomer has joined the Italian mineral wool production line manufacturer. No value for the transaction has been disclosed.

“We are delighted to cooperate as one team in the future. It is an exciting new chapter to continue our journey to develop state of the art mineral wool pipe section production units based on our mutual know-how,” said Andrea Magnani Managing Director at Gamma Meccanica .

Slovenia: A fire has caused damage to Knauf Insulation’s Škofja Loka mineral wool plant. The fire started in a warehouse before spreading on 2 February 2019 before it was extinguished, according to the Slovenian Press Agency. No injuries were reported during the incident. The cause of the blaze is being investigated.

Japan: Research by the Japan Sustainable Building Consortium suggests that under floor insulation could reduce negative health effects such as high blood pressure. The study found that when the temperatures near the floor of a person's home were lower, the proportion of people seeing a doctor regularly for conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes increased, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and the Mainichi newspaper.

The study looked at 4131 people in 2307 homes identified for insulation retrofitting. The average age of the participants was about 57 years with an even gender split. Comparisons were drawn between residents' health before and after insulation upgrades were completed. The researchers found that in homes where the temperature near the floor was below 15°C, the people were on average 1.51 times more likely to have high blood pressure and 1.64 times more likely to have diabetes. The study also noted adverse health effects when bedrooms and living rooms were unevenly heated.

UK: Superglass has tested a glass wool tea cosy against a traditional woollen version in a promotional video broadcast live on social media. In the experiment the tea cosy, made of 84% recycled glass wool insulation, kept a teapot hotter over a 90-minute period than an identical teapot with a woollen one. The teapots were filled with identical volumes of water and were measured with identical thermometers. By the end of the 90-minute experiment, the Superglass pot registered 67.7°C and the traditional cosy was down to 55.0°C.

“Of course, the tea cosy video is a bit of fun, but it highlights just how much of a difference good insulation can make,” said Bob Dalrymple, Head of Marketing at Superglass. He added that the company does not intend on manufacture tea cosies for sale.

Belgium: Recticel is coordinating the four-year PUReSmart project that was launched on 1 January 2019. The project will look at ways of recycling polyurethane (PU) and turning it into a circular material. It is supported by Euro6m in funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme.

PUReSmart plans to recover over 90% of end-of-life PU with the goal of converting it into inputs for new and known products. The project consortium will develop sorting technologies to separate a diverse range of PU materials into dedicated feedstocks. These feedstocks will be broken down into their basic components as inputs for existing PU products, and as raw materials for a newly designed polymer that merges the durability of thermosets with the circularity of thermoplastics.

The PUReSmart consortium is an end-to-end collaboration spanning the entire polyurethane reprocessing value chain, and comprises both industrial players and dedicated research partners. As well as Recticel the other partners on the project include Covestro Deutschland, BT-Wolfgang Binder, WeylChem InnoTec, Ecoinnovazione, Ghent University, KU Leuven, Universidad De Castilla – La Mancha and Ayming.